


Sky Fire

by Rhov



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, First Crush, Friendship, Team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-11-11
Updated: 2011-11-11
Packaged: 2017-11-10 23:37:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/471993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhov/pseuds/Rhov
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the members of Fairy Tail reunited, Romeo Conbolt sets out to accomplish one thing he always dreamed of doing: starting a team with his first crush, Wendy! Lots of cute bashfulness for RoWen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Romeo's Idol

**Author's Note:**

> _I had two stories on FFN called "Romeo's Story" and "Sky Fire," both about Romeo and Wendy. Since one story sort of blended in with the other story, I'm combining them here into one multi-chapter story. I'm a little proud that I was the first person on FFN to write a story about Romeo, and the first to inaugurate RoWen into the fandom._
> 
> _Disclaimer: I only own my adoration for Romeo and Wendy and my hope that they hook up. The rest is the genius of Hiro Mashima._

Romeo wished growing up didn't take so long.

He wanted, more than anything, to be a Fairy Tail mage and have that stamp placed on him. He knew just where to put it, too.

He admired all the mages in his father's guild. He sneaked down there whenever he could, sometimes skipping school if something big was happening.

He liked talking to Mirajane, who always made him blush and wish he was older. He enjoyed sneaking fish to Happy just to see his eyes light up. He admired Elfman because he was the only person who called Romeo "a man" and not merely a boy or child. Cana was like a big sister or aunt...although she smacked him when he once called her that. When Wendy joined them, he regretted that he was slightly too young for her. He hoped that maybe, when he grew up, just maybe she would be willing to date a younger guy.

Yet there was one man he admired most. His father would probably be upset that his idol was not one of the more mature mages in the guild—really, were any of them truly mature?—but such a reckless one, maybe even _the most_ reckless.

He idolized Natsu's strength, but more than that, Romeo liked how loyal the dragon slayer was to the guild and to his friends. He wanted to be like that one day. He wanted to be someone others could depend upon. He wanted to be strong, of course, but he knew there was more to a mage than mere strength. There was heart!

He wanted to have a heart like Natsu.

He knew where he would place the guild mark when he became old enough to join: on his upper arm, but on his left arm, opposite of Natsu. That way, when he and the dragon slayer stood side by side to fight for their friends, their symbols would touch.

As he stared out at the sea that had claimed his idol, Romeo knew those brave mages had to return some day. They _had_ to! And when they did, he and Natsu would stand side by side, their guild marks a reflection of each other. They would fight the numerous enemies who had cropped up over these past seven years. They would protect Fairy Tail and the new generation of mages.

And maybe then, he would be brave enough to tell Wendy about how he felt.

**End of Chapter 1**


	2. Welcome Back

They all left the dilapidated guild so eager and full of hope.

What was the point?

Romeo remembered when he used to be that way, sitting anxiously on the docks, a faint giddiness every time there was a slight rumor, yet that flutter of hope wavered over a pit of acid ready to sear all happiness. Each time, inevitably, the ship would sail back into harbor, depressed faces marched down the gangplank, Bisca would look over to him sadly and shake her head. As the guild members slumped back to the rotting tavern, Romeo's heart would break all over again.

He gave up on the idea of hope when he turned ten. It was a big celebration in his young life, but the people he wanted to be with him were not there. They would never return. He accepted that. He wanted to be a big boy, so he accepted facts. The fact was... Tenrou Island and all on it had been obliterated.

He wanted to protect his guild, just like _he_ always had. First came the determination to learn fire magic. A bracelet was the key, holder magic. It wasn't the same as the dragon slayer, but it was useful. It started ovens and lit candles well. Bisca and Laki insisted that was useful.

He got the scarf with the money from his first job. Slowly he adjusted his wardrobe, always wanting to be like his idol. As he grew up, he saw how his appearance made others in the guild smile. That was enough. He could warm them in the winter and make them remember happy times. He could never be as powerful as Natsu, but he could make the others hold onto his memory.

He tried to convince himself... that was enough!

But it wasn't.

They were weak. They knew that from the start. If they could have had just one of those members... if Gildarts was around, or if Laxus could have returned, or even Mystogan... but no, all the strong ones were gone. They got assistance from Blue Pegasus, but they could only do so much. Romeo was glad for one thing: his father never begged for money.

Until that day.

Macao tried to explain the desperate situation. If they didn't get the money, they lost the guild. Romeo knew he was naive about the inner workings of running a guild. He was still just a kid! But he felt Fairy Tail took a huge blow the day they had to turn to those brutes who were already trying to nudge them out of Magnolia.

He didn't want to lose Fairy Tail. All of his life, he had wanted to be a member of this guild. He worked hard to learn fire magic. He displayed his guild mark proudly, even though the students at school teased him. But if keeping Fairy Tail alive meant sacrificing their honor and becoming cowards, perhaps it was best to let go.

After all, the Wings of the Fairy had been plucked away by the Dragon of Destruction.

And then it happened.

Those stupid Ogres had returned. Romeo only knew one thing: protect the guild!

Protect them as Natsu had always done.

Protect family, friends... nakama!

But his flame wasn't enough. He needed to be stronger! He wanted to grow up faster so he could be like...

_HIM!_

He didn't believe it at first. A dream! A hallucination! He had dreamed that Natsu would walk through that door so many times. Yet his face was the same, unaged, preserved just as it had been in his memory.

And Juvia! And Mirajane! And Elfman! And Master! The real Master, not his father who could barely make ends meet and had to borrow money from barbarian Ogres who now flew across the room so easily. A gang they had struggled against and cowered before, and one grinning teenager took care of them all.

"We're home!" Natsu looked so relaxed and happy as ever.

"We're back." Erza with Bisca and Alzack hanging around her looked relieved somehow.

"Hmph." Yep, even Gajeel was the same.

"Everyone!" Happy leaped into the air with joy.

Then Cana came in with her usual request. "Alcohol, alcohol!"

"Yo." And Gray's wearing clothes... well, half-wearing them. Of course he has to show off his abs.

"Wah! Isn't it wonderful?" _Lucy, you have no idea. For you guys, it's been a few days. For us, seven long, agonizing years have trudged by._

Master—the real Master—looked less happy and more concerned, stroking his chin with a discerningly furrowed brow. "What's up with this tiny guild?" Romeo wondered if his father would get yelled at for letting it crumble so far. Not that it was his fault. Macao did his best, desperately holding the reins for these people to come home.

But it was the quieter voice that caught Romeo the most. "We've come back home."

Romeo's eyes saw her standing there in her cute dress. His first crush! She was exactly how she had been back when he first saw her, still the cute twelve-year-old air dragon slayer, hugging her petulant white cat.

Wendy! Like a rush of a summer breeze, her wide eyes, gentle smile, and slightly blushing cheeks made this hallucination real. And she looked at him. At him! Finally, he was old enough to look at her as an equal. He felt himself sweat.

Lucy the storyteller began an explanation. The others filtered in, hugging friends, glancing around at what they had been told was their new home. How strange it must be for them, to see their friends older, their world changed, their home gone. But not as strange as it was for those who had just about given up hope.

Romeo was speechless. He shivered as Makarov took over telling the story. He stared at his idol, at the salmon-colored hair, at the scarf he remembered so well and had tried to mimic. The same! All the same! Just as he had looked seven years ago. The same teen who had protected their guild time and time again.

Then Natsu's sharp eyes turned down to him. An eyebrow rose, then a smile, then his face beamed in surprise and excitement.

"You're all grown up, Romeo."

That was all that was needed. His eyes filled with tears. Seven years of building a wall around his fragile heart crumbled as he heard laughter in the guild hall once more. Familiar laughter. Noisy laughter.

The emotions boiled over. The one action he had withheld for seven years felt foreign on his face, yet in the midst of his idol and the smile from his first crush, Romeo found that his smile could not be withheld.

"Welcome back! Natsu-nii! Everyone!"


	3. A New Team

Romeo smirked to himself as he walked home. Maybe showing Natsu all of his colored flames was a bit bragging but...well, that was allowed, right? After all, the dragon slayer had wanted to know just how strong he was. It's not really bragging if the person asks you to show him.

His father was staying in the guild hall longer to drink and chat with old friends, but Romeo had school in the morning. He could hardly wait to tell Totomaru-sensei that Natsu was back. As he walked through the streets of Magnolia on the way back to the Conbolt house, he balanced along the low wall that separated the street from the river, just as he had seen Lucy do many times.

"Romeo-kun, be careful," a passing boatman called.

He waved that they cared enough to shout, yet he was a grown boy now, thirteen years old, practically a man, and a mage of Fairy Tail. There was no way he would be stupid enough to fall into the river.

"You really should be careful, Romeo-kun."

The girl's voice startled him, and he began to fall toward the water. A flash of white fur, then sharp claws had him by his scarf.

"Nice catch, Charle! Sorry for scaring you." Wendy smiled and tittered softly.

Romeo gawked that she was there. It was still a shock for him to see her and the others. She looked no different than seven years ago, when he first saw her step into the guild. On that day, he experienced his very first childhood crush. Of course, she had been much older than him. In his six-year-old mind, Wendy had practically been an adult at age twelve, and a dragon slayer at that! She was way out of his league, but that did not stop him from watching her on his visits to the guild hall.

He waited until the Exceed set him down, then he straightened out his clothes in fast tugs. "I wasn't scared, you just...broke my train of thought so fast that it derailed, that's all." He blushed petulantly as Wendy giggled again.

"Hey Romeo-kun, how old are you now?"

He looked at her in surprise. She should know, right? For Wendy and the rest of them, only a few weeks passed in their minds. Or had she not known him well enough back then to even know his age? That saddened him a little. Not a day had gone by that he hadn't thought about her, but he was just a kid back then, not a guild member. He had only been "Macao's son." Of course a great dragon slayer like Wendy would have hardly paid attention to some guild member's little brat.

"How old do you think I am?" he challenged, still feeling a tad bitter.

She hummed with her finger to her mouth. "Fifteen?"

He gawked at her guess. Did she really think he had been eight back then? She thought he had been that old? Or maybe she had thought he was too mature for a mere six year old. That made him slightly smug. "Sorry, I'm not an old man yet. I'm thirteen."

"Oh! Then you're a year older than me," she realized. "I guess I have to call you Romeo-sempai."

His cheeks went hot. "No, just...just Romeo is fine. I mean, technically you're older than me, but physically I guess we're about the same age. You're almost thirteen, right?"

"Uh-huh!" she nodded proudly. "Hey, you wanna come to my birthday party?"

His eyes brightened. "Can I really?"

"I'd be very happy if you did," she grinned. "Now that you're older and officially in the guild, I want us to be friends, okay?"

"Y-yeah," he blushed.

Friends! The first girl he had liked, the first girl where he thought "wow she's rather cute" rather than "eww cooties" now wanted to be friends! This was definitely a day when dreams came true. And if all these other dreams could come true—if Natsu and the gang could return from the dead, if his childhood crush could want to be his friend—then maybe, just maybe, one other dream of his could be answered on this miraculous day.

"Hey, uh, are you...you know...in a team?" he asked nervously.

"Well, not officially. I've done missions with Freed or Natsu, but not much."

"Well," he mumbled, twisting his toe into the ground, "seeing as we're the only two in our generation, maybe...I dunno...we could team up or something. I know you're a dragon slayer and way more powerful than me but..."

"I'd love to!" she squealed. "Isn't that great, Charle? I can finally be on a team!"

The white cat eyed this bashful boy uncertainly. "I don't know..."

"What should we call our team?" she asked, ignoring Charle's doubts about the honorableness of Romeo's intentions.

He always knew, if he could have formed a team, it would have been either with Natsu—although that was impractical considering his inexperience—or with Wendy. He never thought she would agree, let alone so fast. In his dreams of how he wished things could have been, he knew what name he would give to their team.

"Team Tenka! See, it's taking off your _tenryū_ magic and my _ka_ magic." ( _*see footnote_ )

Wendy's eyes gleamed in excitement. "Team Tenka! Yay! Makes me wanna go out on a mission right away."

"Well, I have training tomorrow, so in the morning go check the board and pick one. I'll meet you at the guild right after school and we'll talk to my dad about going out together."

Wendy suddenly blushed and looked down shyly. "G-going out t-together?" she muttered.

Romeo's face went redder than Erza's hair. For a while, all he could do was make gagging noises while Charle glared menacingly at him. "I-I-I mean...w-we'll see about...about _heading out_...as...as a team. As the new Team Tenka."

She still tugged bashfully on her skirt. "Oh...okay, yeah. Um...I should probably go find out where I can sleep tonight. I hope my old room is still there. Good evening, Romeo-kun...uh, just Romeo, right? Teehee!" she laughed, and her bashfulness faded away. "This will be fun. I'm finally in a team! I'm so happy. I'll see you tomorrow, Romeo."

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck and tried to act cool. "See you tomorrow, Wendy. We're gonna make this the best team in Fairy Tail!"

She nodded firmly. "Right!" She waved and trotted away across the cobbled road.

As soon as she was gone, Charle flew right into Romeo's besmitten face and scowled at him. "I'm keeping my eye on you, boy," she warned, then the Exceed hurriedly flapped after Wendy.

Romeo chuckled as he watched them go. "Team Tenka! Rainbow fire and sky dragon. And she...she's still rather cute!"

Despite himself, he blushed at thinking that they would be working together, maybe even go on trips together. Romeo still thought Wendy was out of his league, but he was determined to make yet another dream come true!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Tenka,_ 天火 _– "skyfire" or fire caused by lightning. Wendy's attacks all start_ 天龍 _"Tenryū" or sky dragon. "Ka" is the Japanese word for fire, such as Natsu's_ 火竜 _"Karyū" fire dragon attacks. Romeo is taking "ten" sky and "ka" fire to make Tenka. That's why this piece is called "Sky Fire."_


End file.
